The invention concerns cosmetic agents with a content of salts of monomeric or oligomeric biguanide derivatives for the control of head dandruff.
There are already numerous substances recommended as effective for the control of head dandruff. These include compounds which increase the flow of blood, such as nicotinic acid ester, and also panthenol, colloidal sulfur, hydroxyquinoline, phenol, quaternary ammonium compounds, selenium sulfide, pyridine thione, and numerous other compounds.
Of the known compounds the 1-hydroxy-2-pyridine thione and its salts, particularly the zinc salt, exhibit a particularly good effectiveness against head dandruff. Based on the limited solubility of the zinc pyridine thiones in the usual cosmetic solvents such as water and alcohol, they can however only with difficulty be worked up into clear cosmetic agents.
The compounds previously suggested as effective substances for treatment of head dandruff could with regard to their effectiveness against head dandruff in toxicological and dermatological respects or--such as in the case of the zinc pyridine thiones--on account of the difficult solubility in cosmetic solvents, not completely satisfactorily meet the necessary requirements.
There exists therefore the problem of making cosmetic agents available with a content of an effective substance for controlling head dandruff, which better fulfill the above mentioned requirements.
The antibacterial and antimycotic effectiveness of salts of oligomeric polymethylene biguanide is known from British Pat. No. 702,268. These salts have already been described, alone or in combination with other microbiocides, as being components of disinfectants (see German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,611,957). Furthermore, the use of polyhexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride is known for preserving cosmetic emulsions. For the purpose of preservation the polyhexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride should be contained in an amount of about 0.06 to 0.3% by weight in the preserved preparation. Amounts of polyhexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride sufficient for preserving purposes in cosmetic preparations have, however, according to investigation not been determined to provide an effectiveness against head dandruff.
Compared to this it has been surprisingly discovered that hair and scalp treatment agents with a content of at least 1% by weight of salts of biguanide derivatives exhibit an excellent effectiveness against head dandruff. Moreover, with the use of these biguanide compounds as antidandruff effective substances, in comparison to zinc pyridine thione, clear cosmetic hair and scalp treatment agents may be produced without difficulty.
These clear cosmetic agents show, besides, a better physiological compatibility as such than a content of zinc pyridine thione.